What's the difference these days between the developed and developing world?

One difference can be found in their attitude toward mobile phones.

In countries like the Philippines, there is great concern these days over mobile phone theft. In some cases they're after purses and other valuables, with the phones just being an incidental. In places like Kenya SIM cards are hacked and the phones are re-sold.

In the U.S. there are now studies complaining that people are getting new phones without thought to disposal of the old ones.

It's a key difference in attitude which I think impacts the whole market. Is the phone a valuable asset or tomorrow's junk?

If it's valuable you're going to treat it differently. You're going to protect it and, just as important, you're going to depend on it. You're going to put important data in there, rely on it for applications, and you're going to be upset when you can't find it.

That's the attitude Americans take toward their laptop PCs.

But in Africa, a phone is a laptop PC, or its logical equivalent. It keeps you in touch, with relatives, with the market, with your life. So there the big problem is theft -- theft of equipment, and theft of service.

Those in the market should know, understand, and strategize based on this knowledge.